Event-related

A monster's mood will no longer degrade from "beaming with pure contentment" after collecting items or interacting with the monster.

The collective moods of all creatures will generate auras of light or darkness that affects them all.

Light
When the number of creatures beaming with pure contentment is greater than that succumbing to darkness, all creatures’ contentment and mood are increased.

Darkness
When the number of creatures succumbing to darkness is greater than that beaming with pure contentment, all monsters' contentment and mood are decreased.

The following information is now displayed when entering your Mog Garden.

The number of days left on assistants’ contracts.
The number of days left on each assistant’s contract is now be announced to the player, and the timing of the announcement may be changed by speaking with the Green Thumb Moogle.
The following three settings are possible.

Always announce contract information regardless of time remaining.

Announce when there is one day remaining, seven days remaining, or any number of days in between.

Do not announce time remaining.

Current affinity

If an assistant’s contract has previously expired when interacting with a gathering point, a message to that effect now displays.

If an assistant’s contract expires while the player is still in their Mog Garden, speaking to the assistant will cause them to disappear.

When entering another player’s Mog Garden, the invited player will no longer occasionally earn extra shining stars.
Shining stars may be earned one per day by entering one’s own Mog Garden.

It is now possible to scrap any unwanted flotsam directly without receiving it in cases where the player’s inventory is full or he is otherwise unable to recover it.

*Four notorious monsters have been added to the same objective in Fei'Yin, and each must be defeated for successful completion.

A variety of equipment is available as rewards for vanquishing these NMs.

Adventurers in parties of between three and five characters may now call forth alter egos in Wanted battles.* A party of at least three players is required to battle notorious monsters.

A new option to spend Unity accolades to travel to an area for which the player has accepted a Wanted objective will be added.
Selecting the option “Currently accepted area” will display areas for which the player has accepted a Wanted objective.*Areas from expansions that have not yet been installed will not be displayed.

Records of Eminence has undergone the following additions and adjustments.

New objectives have been added.

A capacity point bonus has been added to successful first time completion of certain objectives. Characters who have already completed these objectives will have the bonus retroactively applied.

The Unity and Achievement categories have switched locations.

Other characters are no longer displayed while talking to Records of Eminence NPCs in order to ease graphical burdens.

The items required for the quest “Choosing an Automaton Frame” have changed.

Valoredge X-900

Now requires patas instead of tigerfangs.

Sharpshot Z-500

Now requires a heavy crossbow instead of a repeating crossbow.

Vingijard in Lower Jeuno will no longer erase memories of the geomancer and rune fencer artifact quests.* In accordance with this change, geomancer and rune fencer quests will become temporarily unable to be undertaken again as of the March version update. A different method for attempting them again will be added in a subsequent version update.

Battle-related

New battle content known as Vagary has been added.

What is Vagary?
Vagary is a new type of battle content that pits pioneers against members of the Xol Triumvirate, sinister forces that made their first appearance in the Seekers of Adoulin mission storyline. Engimatic gates found within Outer Ra’Kaznar connect to otherworldly realms where adventurers and their allies face off against Balamor, Dhokmak the Brash, and Ashrakk Duskbrood.

Requirements for Participation

Have installed and registered the Seekers of Adoulin expansion disk

Be of level 95 or higher

Be in a party or alliance of between three and eighteen players

The party leader must have progressed to a certain point in the Seekers of Adoulin mission stoyline*

The party leader must be in possession of the requisite key item.** Party members other than the leader need not fulfill this prerequisite, but Seekers of Adoulin lore is deeply intertwined with Vagary content. Those who wish to enjoy the story without spoilers are advised to complete the missions first.

Obtaining the requisite key items
Players can obtain the necessary key items by trading vials of befouled water dropped by fomors in Outer Ra’Kaznar and Ra’Kaznar Inner Court to the odyssean passage found in Leafallia.

Entering Vagary
Gates that tie Ulbuka to the otherworldly locations where Vagary takes place can be found in Outer Ra’Kaznar. There are three such gates, and the layout of this extradimensional realm and the member of the triumvirate found within differ accordingly.* The key items required for entry are the same for all three gates.

Conquering Vagary
Vagary has a time limit of forty-five minutes. Pioneers must vanquish the threats that lie within and keep pressing forward until they come face-to-face with one of the triumvirate. Those victorious will be rewarded with handsome spoils.

Alluvion Skirmishes in Yorcia Weald [U] have undergone the following adjustments.

The number of malicious and valiant currently present are now displayed.

The HP of strongholds and marchlands are now displayed.

The types of monsters present in a skirmish now vary more strongly with the type of Eudaemon used to enter.

If a player has used a eudaemon sash to gain entry, they may use motes of puissance to enhance their pets.

Puissance may now be used to obtain maps.* Maps will vanish upon changing levels.

Players may now convert obsidian fragments into motes of puissance.

There is no longer a confirmation message when amending the Ars Monstrum or summoning valiants.

Time limits will now be displayed for the following content.

Skirmishes / Alluvion Skirmishes / Delve / Incursion

The Trust initiative has undergone the following adjustments.

Alter egos may now be called forth in Walk of Echoes and Wanted combat.

Alter egos may now be called forth in the following Wings of the Goddess mission battlefields.

When Wills Collide / Maiden of the Dusk

Alter egos may now be called forth in the following Winds of the Goddess quest battlefields.

Champion of the Dawn / The Dawn Also Rises / A Forbidden Reunion

The cost for purchasing avatar phantom gems, required to participate in high-tier avatar battlefields, has been decreased from twenty merit points to ten merit points.

The method for calculating whether a walk in Walk of Echoes would enter surge mode has been changed, and it is now more likely for surge walks to occur back to back.

A new Gift category enabling players to equip items marked as Superior 2 has been added.

The following combat-related adjustments have been made.

Magic burst adjustments

The potency of magic bursts has been increased. Magic bursts will now deal increasing damage to monsters that have lower resistance to the element generated by the magic burst.* The following spells are exempt from this adjustment.
Geohelix / Hydrohelix / Anemohelix / Pyrohelix / Cryohelix / Ionohelix / Onctohelix / Luminohelix / Kaustra

The increased potency based on the number of skillchains has been doubled.

The amount of enmity generated from damage dealt during magic bursts has been decreased.

Enmity Adjustments

The enmity cap has been tripled.

The amount of enmity gained by dealing damage has been lowered.* Enmity generated by healing remains the same.

Enmity will now decrease based on the gap between player/pet level/item level and monster level.* Abilities that generate a fixed amount of enmity, such as healing magic and elemental magic, are exempt from this change.

The TP-based damage bonuses for the following dagger weapon skills have been slightly lowered.

Pre-adjustment

Post-adjustment

Weapon Skill

TP1000

TP2000

TP3000

TP1000

TP2000

TP3000

Shark Bite

4.81

7.11

8.81

->

4.5

6.8

8.5

Mercy Stroke

6

-

-

->

5

-

-

Mandalic Stab

5

8.19

11.79

->

4

6.09

8.5

Rudra’s Storm

6

15

19.5

->

5

10.19

13

The following jobs have undergone adjustments.

Red Mage

The following enfeebling magic spells have been adjusted.

The damage over time effects of Poison and Poison II have been increased and their effect duration has been increased to ninety seconds.

The effects of Blind and Blind II have been increased and the duration is now fixed at 180 seconds.* The previously announced change regarding attributes that affect the strength of these effects have been put on hold pending further consideration.

The duration of Paralyze, Paralyze II, and Silence is now fixed at 120 seconds.

The accuracy of Distract, Distract II, Frazzle, and Frazzle II has been increased.

Red mages are now able to use job-exclusive sword weapon skills.

Red Lotus Blade / Seraph Blade / Vorpal Blade / Sanguine Blade

* The implementation of the previously announced spell Ardor has been put on hold pending further consideration of its effects.

Dark Knight

The effects of the following dark magic spells no longer diminish over time.

The maximum duration of blood pacts whose duration varies based on the player’s summoning skill has been increased.

The activation of all blood pacts has been sped up.

The effects of Glittering Ruby no longer diminish over time.

Puppetmaster

Magic spells cast by the Soulsoother Head have undergone the following adjustments.

The casting time of Protectra and Shellra have been decreased.* This change also applies to Protectra and Shellra spells cast by players.

The area of effect of Protectra and Shellra has been increased.* This change does not apply to Protectra and Shellra spells cast by players.

The effect duration of maneuvers now increases based on the amount of time elapsed since using Deploy.* This effect is removed whenever the automaton is knocked out or deactivated, or when the player changes areas.
* The effect is maintained even if combat ends, whether by vanquishing monsters, retrieving the automaton, or other such means.

The effects of the following monster abilities has been adjusted.

Umbrils
Necrotic Brume
The duration for which targets are unable to be healed has been reduced from 10-20 seconds to 5-10 seconds.

Bztavians
Stinger Volley
The duration for which targets are unable to be healed has been reduced from 10-20 seconds to 5-10 seconds.

Greater Demons
Oblivion’s Mantle
The duration for which targets are unable to be healed has been reduced from 10-20 seconds to 5-10 seconds.

Reforging to item level 119
The items required for reforging empyrean armor to this level can obtained in Vagary.* Players must first receive a designation earned through Vagary in order to reforge Empyrean armor to item level 119.

New equipment has been added for geomancers and rune fencers.

The new geomancer and rune fencer equipment sets can be obtained through completing the following quests.

Treasures of the Earth (geomancer equipment quest)

Players must talk to Sylvie in Western Adoulin (I-5) after having fulfilled the below prerequisites.

Players must have geomancer set as their main job; have completed the quest “The Communion;” and have given the crystallized lifestream essence, used in obtaining Bagua attire, to Wescolina.

Epiphany (rune fencer equipment quest)

Players must talk to Octavernost in Western Adoulin (K-9) after having fulfilled the below prerequisites.

Players must have rune fencer set as their main job; have completed the quest “Destiny’s Device;” and have given a strand of Ra'Kaznar filament, used in obtaining Futhark attire, to Yestin-Ovestin.

*Items obtained through these quests will be of item level 109. As with empyrean armor, items necessary for reforging this equipment to item level 119 must be obtained through Vagary.

New synthesis recipes have been added.

New furnishings have been added.

The following changes have been made to rings with dedication and commitment effects.

The time that must pass after equipping these items has been shortened to five seconds.

The casting time has been shortened to one second.

The recast time has been shortened to fifteen minutes.

The capacity ring's effect duration has been lengthened to 720 minutes.

The limits on experience point/capacity points obtainable for each ring have been changed according to the table below.

System-related

A category for locking/unlocking character equipment appearance has been added to the Misc. 3 section of the Config submenu.

Style Lock
This category has the same effect as the /lockstyle commands.
Selecting “Static” will lock the character’s appearance.

The conditions for a character’s appearance to be automatically unlocked have been changed to the following

When changing jobs.

When becoming the victim of a monster ability that removes the player’s equipment.* When changing the main hand weapon to a main hand weapon of a different type, only the weapon graphic will change.
In relation to the above, if the player switches their main weapon to that of a different weapon type and then switching back to a weapon of the original type, the /lockstyle functionality will reactivate and display the appearance of the originally set weapon. For example, if a player has their weapon appearance locked at Sword A and then equips a club, only the weapon graphic will change from sword A to the newly equipped club. If the player then switches out the club for Sword B, the lockstyle functionality will reactivate and the graphic for sword A will display.

New functions have been added to the /lockstyle text command.

A Style Lock category has been added to the Edit Equipment Set section of the Macros submenu
Players may lock in their equipment appearance by registering an equipment set, selecting it, and then choosing Style Lock.

Method for Fixing Appearance
Players may select which equipment set they would like to have displayed by using the /lockstyleset command together with the number of a registered equipment set.

/lockstyleset [equipment set number]
Sets your character’s appearance to be that of the designated equipment set. Not designating a number will display the currently equipped items. This command may also be used while appearance is currently locked.

Ex. “/lockstyleset 1” will fix the character’s appearance at that of the equipment designated in equipment set 1.

* This command may only be executed once every ten seconds in order to reduce server load.

Method for unlocking equipment apperance
Appearance may be unlocked by turning off the option from the config menu or using the /lockstyle command once more.

The conditions for which equipment may be used with the style lock functionality have been changed.
If these conditions are fulfilled, players are able to display even equipment that is not usable by their current job. The new conditions for /lockstyle are as follows.

The player must be in possession of the piece.

The player must fulfill the conditions to equip the piece on at least one job they have acquired.

For weapons, the weapon type for main and sub weapons must be the same as those currently equipped.

Ex. A player in possession of Burtgang, paladin relic armor, and a full set of Orvail armor has paladin at level 99 and red mage at level 30 and sets their main job to be red mage.

* Burtgang/paladin relic armor
The player is able to change their job to paladin and meets the level requirement to equip the items, so they can be used with the style lock functionality.

* Orvail armor
The player’s red mage level is insufficient to equip the orvail armor, so it cannot be used with the style lock functionality.

* When equipping weapons other than swords
The paladin relic armor will remain fixed, but the Burgang will not.

Arcane glyptics engraved by Divainy-Gamainy or Detrovio in Western Adoulin (J-10) will now appear at the top of the item help text.

Linkshell messages from both primary and secondary linkshells are now displayed upon logging in.

A text command to display sublinkshell messages has been added.

/linkshell2mes, /ls2mes
Allows the player to view their current sublinkshell group’s welcome message.

* Players must set a linkshell to be their primary one in order to edit these messages.

Players are now able to use the /recast text command to display the recast timer for abilities that consume charges.

The “Friend List” button in the main menu has been renamed “Communication.”
The existing friend list functions remain the same, and a new category, “Emote List,” enables the player to perform a variety of emotes directly from the menu.

A new category, “Area Display” has been added to the Misc. 3 section of the Config submenu.* This category is currently inactive, and the functionality will be added in a subsequent version update.

The log window has undergone the following adjustments.

Players are now able to choose between two methods of controlling the log window when it is expanded to full-screen mode.

Timestamps may now be displayed in either minutes or seconds.

The method of sorting maximum level items on the auction house has changed. Level 99 items are now sorted in order of superior items/descending item level.

The issue wherein arcane glyptic information would not be displayed after applying multiple glypts of a certain type to the "Keraunos" two-handed club.

The issue where augment information for a main weapon would sometimes be displayed in a subweapon's help text.

The issue where a freeze would occur while fishing.

The issue where scrolling in the region map would sometimes not work correctly.

The issue wherein Chat/Unity and Chat/Linkshell2 shortcut key assignments would not be saved.

Windows and Xbox360 Versions Only

The issue in the Windows and Xbox360 versions wherein animations are not played for a portion of Diabolos's abilities.

PlayStation2 Version Only

Various issues in the PlayStation2 version in which the screen may turn dark and progress made impossible during the following quests and/or missions:

The Chains Fall Free / Where It All Began / Maiden of the Dusk / The Long March North /
Navigating the Unfriendly Seas / Promotion: Second Lieutenant / Promotion: First Lieutenant /
Divine Interference / Into the Beast's Maw / Yggdrasill / Sweets for the Soul / Flowers for Svenja /
Do Not Go Into the Light / Hypocritical Oath / Sick and Tired

Windows Version Only

The issue in the Windows version in which the screen may turn dark and progress made impossible during the A Shantotto Ascension mission, "Enemy of the Empire (II)".

Known Issues

When exchanging one key item for another one obtained after completing Vagary, the key item already in the player's possession may appear in the selection list.* Be advised that selecting this item from the selection list will consume the items that was exchanged.

During certain Vagary cutscenes, some speakers' names will occasionally not appear next to their lines of dialogue.

When logging in with a character who logged out during Vagary, the character may occasionally obtain a key item.

Notorious monsters battled during the San d'Oria missions "Coming of Age" may occasionally continuously respawn.

Seasonal objects may occasionally not display correctly in cutscenes during the "Chacharoon's Cheer" quest.

Defeating two Jailers of Prudence at the same time may occasionally result in no spoils being dropped.

When a player attempts to choose a reward with the rare attribute already in his or her possession after completing a Records of Eminence Objective, an error message may occasionally fail to appear.

When attempting to obtain a reward with a full inventory after the Seekers of Adoulin mission "The Light Within," an error message may occasionally fail to appear.

When moving from a Mog Garden to a Mog House, the direction the player character faces is incorrect.

In some cases, feeding a reared monster, parting with it, and rearing a new monster, the new monster may occasionally not be able to be fed until 12:00 a.m. Japan Time.

After using the beastmaster ability "Ready" equipping any item that reduces Ready's recast time, the new recast time may occasionally not be reflected in the UI.

The help texts for the two-handed swords "Malfeasance" and "Malfeasance +2" are incorrect. The attribte "Dark elemental attack" should read "Dark elemental magic attack."

When closing job point categories under the main menu, the cursor may occasionally move to the main menu.

If players attempt to activate the style lock functionality when they are unable to do so immediately after changing jobs, the style lock function may occasionally only be able to be activated via the Config menu.* Logging out or changing areas will reenable the style lock functionality.

Equipping a one-handed club and then enabling style lock may occasionally cause the /hurray emote to not display correctly.

After enabling style lock and using the /lockstyleset command to select a different equipment set, the style lock activation message may occasionally fail to display.

When manually sorting the emote list window, the window may occasionally start scrolling.

The sound effect for selecting and cancelling "Price History" under the auction house menu is incorrect.